I Believe
by OnWithTheButter
Summary: "The power of believing cuts through destiny and creates miracles," but how many pasts do I have to see before I believe? slight LitBela, based on the legend of the Stebuklas Tile, takes place within the 'kakera' world?


They all look so happy, so hopeful. It's kind of silly, really, that a simple tile could cause this. And if one believes the legend, every one of them will have their wishes granted, because it's impossible to go back in time, right?

I don't believe the tile can make miracles itself. It's just a tile. I remember standing here on that day, the protest was so hopeful! It was a joyous day, even though it's effects would take a little bit to be felt. But it was most of all a sign, a way of saying, "We're all ready for change." You could say it was a miracle.

But is it the tile that created the miracle, and thereby has the power to create more? No, it's the will of a person or a united group of people that creates change or a miracle.

Stebuklas. It means 'miracle'. It's written on a tile in the pavement, marking the end of a human chain. Spin on the tile and make a wish. Either your wish will come true, or you'll be taken back to 1989, when we stood hand-in-hand from Tallinn to Riga to Vilnius. Sounds a little far-fetched, doesn't it? Yet people come to this square every day just to wish on the stebuklas tile.

Maybe it's an inborn trait of humanity to keep hoping for something better. Even when one is highly blessed, they want more. We'll believe anything, at least a little, if it offers something greater than what we currently have.

I've been tempted to try the same thing myself. Not because I think anything will happen, but rather just to see what it feels likes. The spark of hope within me, even though my life is fine now, compels me to test this for a miracle. After all, it wouldn't hurt to attempt it just once. But what would I wish for? Something tells me to wish for something sort of implausible, so that I don't get my hopes up when it falls through. But it still should be a sincere wish, in case there is some way it comes true. Perhaps something I have no control of, something that wouldn't hurt anyone.

I step closer to the tile, waiting my turn. I inexplicably become nervous. Soon enough, I get the chance to stand on this legendary tile. Taking a deep breath, I spin on it, mouthing an inconsequential wish. I wish that Belarus' dictatorship will fall, and that my innocent Natasha would return to me.

Before I know it, a rush comes over me, I don't know what's happening. Is the legend true? Have I wished an impossible wish and am now traveling back to that say? This can't really happen, right?

When I finally begin to piece things together, I realize that everything is black. I'm floating in infinite blackness. I start to all. A voice speaks to me, "Believe." I come to accept what I'm seeing, and I stabilize again. I'm floating again, standing on nothingness, surrounded by nothingness…and little shards of glass? That's what they look like. Floating all around me. They're reflecting something. What is it? In this nothingness, there's nothing but me to reflect, yet all seven colors are present, certainly not reflecting simply me.

Something about this place brings to mind the word 'purgatory'. So did I die? What is this? What is the power of that tile?

"Believe," I hear again. Who is that? It doesn't quite sound right. Is it really audible or am I imagining it? It sounds like a little girl's voice.

One of the glass crystals floats near me. Something about it looks strangely familiar. I reach out to stop it, surprised that it doesn't have a sharp edge. Somehow it seems to be playing out my life. I see scenes I've seen before. Natasha. She's in this crystal, as a younger girl. This is my memory.

Another crystal floats by. I stop it as well. The memory contained within it isn't so nice. I see myself, covered in blood, barely able to move. I can remember this just as well. I remember wondering to myself how long before I died. I want to pull away from this memory, but I'm glued to it.

I watch for a little while longer, cringing at recalling the feelings, the despair of this chapter of my life. Why must I watch this? Isn't this part over and done with? Why must I recall it?

Suddenly, the images in the crystal take a turn I don't recognize. Have I blocked out this memory? I'm dead. The crystal portrays me as lifeless. People mourning over me. The nation of Lithuania has ceased to exist. This didn't really happen. What is the crystal trying to say to me? Is it showing me what could have happened? After all, I'm already aware that I was close to death before.

A new idea enters my mind. What if this did happen, but in a parallel and alternate world? I had believed at one point that I should have died. It was my destiny, but somehow I overcame it.

I reach for another one. Another one. One after another, they all portray my death, my friends' deaths. I wonder how long in the world I came from before I die there too. All of these separate worlds, crystals, fragments of time, they all tell me that I will die, those I love will die. It's only a matter of time. 1918, 1569, 1291, 1965, 1721. These are all some of the years that I recognize my own death in different shards of glass.

I stop questioning this nothingness I am floating in I accept whatever reasoning come to me. That one word, believe, echoes around. Is this because I came skeptical to a magical tile?

I take a hold of another crystal fragment. I recognize this. The Baltic Way. Just like in the legend.

It's strange how easily I've accepted everything, including the ideas that come to my head. How easily I've come to see these little mirrors playing back thing that I don't remember as simply other worlds. How I've begun to have fatalistic thoughts about destiny just by this. Of course, even if one of these things do happen to be my fate, there's no way to break it.

I pick up a crystal from by my feet. I cringe as soon as I look into it. Within the reflecting surface, my Natasha, my beautiful, faultless, undeserving Natasha was being beaten. I can't break into the fragment to do anything. I can only watch. There's not even anything in this black void to throw the piece into to shatter it and end that world. I'm helpless. Where am I in that world? What can I do? If nothing happens, the girl will be dead.

"I'm sorry."

There's that voice again. Where is she? If she's watching me, can't she show herself to me and explain what's happening? Can't she do anything to end all of this suffering and death I see?

I ponder the word she repeated before. Believe. Is that the clue? Am I simply too faithless? What does that have to do with this? Why is she sorry?

"What is this?" I call out. "What am I supposed to do?"

I have no idea how long I've been here. Time has seemed to stop entirely. I've watched numerous worlds now, as I've accepted them to be. I don't even know if they're real.

"The power of believing cuts through destiny and creates miracles."

An answer? Miracles? It's called the 'miracle' tile after all… So are these worlds some sort of destiny? What am I to believe?

The sentences echoes through my mind as I pick up and peer into more of these crystal fates. Every one is the same, ending in cruel death. After all, that is fate, right?

My wish comes back to me. What had happened to her was a destiny just like all of these, isn't it? Believing…could change that? It seems to make sense now. But how can I believe? How does one come to believe anything really?

I keep cycling though the pasts floating by me. Nothing within them is good, nothing provides me with a hope. I remember… I have believed that hope and belief are traits of existence. No mater how dismal, a person will hope for a better future. But where does flimsy hope end and steadfast belief begin?

But it is possible, surely. After every storm is a rainbow. Once you reach the bottom, you can only go up. There's a light at the end of every tunnel.

I didn't have to wish for her fate to be reversed, a skeptical move to test a tile. Just by that action, I spoke that I didn't believe. But slowly, I'm beginning to see that it is possible. If every death I've seen in these past worlds we have overcome without our knowing it, then surely anything can be overcome. All I have to do is believe that it is possible.

As I reach this resolution, a piece of glass brushes past my hand. It seems to glow. I believe. I believe that there exists the possibility for a miracle. I take a hold of that shining fragment. In this world, nobody needs to lose.

When I accept it, I return back to the city, to the cathedral square. Everything looks the same as when I left, but I believe that I've begun anew, in a world where suffering is unnecessary. All that needs to be done is to believe, and fate will be cut down.

I head home, knowing inside me that a change is taking place. I feel happier already.

This is my miracle world. No one can tell me any different. I'm not limited to the wish of her well-being, but any fate that isn't good, I can change.

I know that miracles don't happen instantly, but I still know that I believe that Belarus will be saved from dictatorship, and I know that just that will be enough to spark a miracle. It's only a matter of time.

* * *

**A/N: I'm pretty sure I messed up… XD Artistic license? I haven't read anything from either Umineko or Higurashi that has to do with the kakera concept in at least a year… orz**

**About the Stebuklas Tile (copied from Vilnius Life): Located somewhere between the ****Cathedral ****and the Cathedral Tower (****superstition**** forbids us from revealing the exact spot), visitors will find a tile with the colourfully mosaicked word "stebuklas" ("miracle") on it. This tile marks the southern terminus of an estimated 2 million-person chain linking the Baltic states through their capitals, Vilnius, ****Riga**** and ****Tallinn****. The human chain was formed in 1989 as a politcal protest against Soviet occupation and stretched 650km from this spot to Tallinn. Today the tile is a symbol of hope and inspiration, encouraging people to believe in miracles and remember those they have experienced and may yet still experience. If you have a secret desire or dream, step onto the tile, close your eyes, silently pronounce your wish or intention, and turn around clockwise three times... Either your wish will come true or you'll be magically transported back to 1989 (or both, depending what you wish for...).**

**~Butter~**


End file.
